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Graham 0-1 0-0 0, Harris 0-6 2-2 2, Franklin 1-4 2-2 4, Smith 1-7 1-2 3, Tucker 2-8 1-2 6, Bryant 3-8 1-1 7, Pooler 0-2 0-0 0, Hall 0-1 0-0 0, Tavares 0-0 0-0 0, Gray 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson 1-3 0-0 2, Wofford 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 8-42 7-9 24 Jacobs 5-7 2-2 12, Scott 4-5 1-1 9, Deans 1-6 0-0 2, Sadler 2-3 0-1 5, Todd-Williams 4-7 2-2 11, Carrera 1-2 0-0 2, Collins 1-4 1-2 3, Gbemuotor 0-1 0-0 0, Iwuala 5-6 2-5 12, Richardson 2-4 3-4 7, Djalo 0-0 0-0 0, Noel 2-6 0-0 5, Thienou 6-9 3-4 16, Thompson 2-4 1-3 5, Totals 35-64 15-24 89 3-Point Goals_Alabama St. 1-15 (Harris 0-1, Franklin 0-1, Smith 0-6, Tucker 1-3, Bryant 0-3, Pooler 0-1), Mississippi 4-19 (Deans 0-5, Sadler 1-2, Todd-Williams 1-4, Richardson 0-1, Noel 1-3, Thienou 1-2, Thompson 0-2). Assists_Alabama St. 5 (Harris 1, Jackson 1, Smith 1, Tucker 1, Wofford 1), Mississippi 26 (Thienou 5, Todd-Williams 5). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Alabama St. 25 (Harris 5), Mississippi 43 (Jacobs 8). Total Fouls_Alabama St. 23, Mississippi 13. Technical Fouls_None. A_2,770.

Heavy travel day starts with brief grounding of all American Airlines flightsAES: aims to Building the RWA Digital Banking Unicorn 12-12-2024 09:12 PM CET | Business, Economy, Finances, Banking & Insurance Press release from: Getnews / PR Agency: LianPR RWA, or Real World Asset, refers to the digitization of real-world assets through blockchain technology, enabling seamless interaction and resource synergy between physical assets and the Web3 ecosystem. The value of RWA lies in aligning with the value of tangible assets, providing scalability beyond traditional financial systems. Through blockchain applications, assets can be managed more efficiently, transparently, and equitably, allowing global participants to subscribe to ownership tokens. Key Characteristics of RWA: Asset Digitization: Transforming physical assets into digital representations on the blockchain for enhanced usability and tradability. Increased Liquidity: Tokenization and fractionalization make traditionally illiquid assets more accessible and marketable. Reduced Transaction Costs: Transparent and real-time verification capabilities eliminate intermediaries, significantly reducing fees. The core concept of RWA involves mapping the revenue rights of real-world financial assets-such as U.S. Treasury bonds, fixed-income securities, and equities-onto the blockchain, enabling the collateralization of off-chain assets to access on-chain liquidity. For tangible assets like gold and real estate, blockchain technology enhances transaction efficiency and transparency. Image: https://www.getnews.info/uploads/b6a0bb4c5400fb501b5c68514a2d526f.jpg Traditional financial giants such as Citigroup, BlackRock, Fidelity, and JPMorgan have entered the RWA space. According to Dune Analytics, RWA narratives have seen a 117% growth this year, ranking second only to "Meme." This article explores the current state and future opportunities of the RWA sector. RWA's Rapid Growth in DeFi RWA has emerged as one of the fastest-growing sectors in decentralized finance (DeFi). Total Value Locked (TVL) doubled in 2023, and on-chain asset value has already grown by 50% in early 2024, reaching $12 billion (excluding stablecoins). The most significant contributors to this growth are private credit markets (76%), U.S. Treasury products (17%), and tokenized gold and real estate. RWA Applications: Real Estate: Blockchain digitization provides platforms for analysis, tokenization, and trading. By leveraging NFTs or other forms of asset-backed digital representations, real estate can be fractionalized to resolve liquidity constraints, invigorate the physical economy, and accelerate asset circulation. Other Industries: Applications extend to hospitality, cultural assets, fine art, and agriculture. AES: The First RWA-Driven Digital Bank Amid the RWA surge, AES Digital Asset Bank has emerged as the world's first digital bank grounded in RWA technology. Inspired by the Aspen Coin model, which tokenized assets of the St. Regis Aspen Resort to offer low-cost investment opportunities, AES Digital Bank expands this concept into the tourism and consumer sectors. By leveraging RWA technology, AES helps enterprises reduce inventory, enhance asset liquidity, and achieve ecosystem integration. Image: https://www.getnews.info/uploads/b0c845a865af9eb6c67122f75aadd1f2.jpg AES Business Model and Innovations: AES employs the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchain to tokenize physical assets and enable secure, transparent, and immutable on-chain transactions. Its innovative digital financial services include tokenization of real estate, bonds, fine art, collectibles, and private credit. AES aims to establish a diverse digital financial ecosystem with solutions for enterprises and individuals, including asset evaluation and tokenization. Strategic Collaborations and Investments: AES collaborates with leading financial institutions, including American Express, Barclays Bank, and Western Alliance Bank, involving a total investment of $500 million. AES focuses on core areas such as tourism, consumer products, and digital asset securitization, building a global digital industry ecosystem. American Express' extensive network across tourism, dining, and asset management aligns with AES' vision. By leveraging RWA technology, AES strengthens ecosystem connections and resource flows, expanding on-chain lending capabilities and enabling asset digitization for tangible inventory reduction. AES Ecosystem: The AES ecosystem has reached over 5 million users. With RWA as its foundation, AES drives customer traffic for physical businesses and enriches user experiences through diverse scenarios. Users can redeem AES tokens for products, stay at AES-affiliated hotels, or visit AES-supported attractions, seamlessly integrating online and offline engagement. Technical Framework: AES uses BSC as its foundational blockchain for secure, transparent, and traceable transactions. The bank offers a straightforward application process for asset evaluation and tokenization, ensuring accessibility and efficiency. Vision for the Future: AES aims to build a global RWA-based digital banking framework, bridging physical assets and digital finance. By addressing core user needs through blockchain-powered financial solutions, AES enables the tokenization of assets such as real estate, securities, art, and private credit, alongside a host of financial derivatives. AES' technical, service, and management teams ensure transparency, fairness, and practicality, delivering efficient and reliable transaction services. Aligned with the Web 3.0 era, AES continues to innovate in RWA technology, positioning itself as a leader in the digital finance revolution. Join AES and embrace the new era of asset digitization! Disclaimer: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies (including product offerings, regulatory plans and business plans) and may change without notice. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Media Contact Company Name: AES Email: Send Email [ http://www.universalpressrelease.com/?pr=aes-aims-to-building-the-rwa-digital-banking-unicorn ] Country: United States Website: http://AES.info This release was published on openPR.DALLAS — In 2025, most Texans will no longer be required to have their vehicles inspected . But you’ll still have to pay the fee. Drivers in 17 counties, however, will still face annual tests because of emissions requirements. Those counties are Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, El Paso, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis and Williamson. Those who support the change argued the inspections were a costly waste of time that modern vehicles make obsolete. Those who want to keep inspections argue they help keep drivers safe by flagging vehicles with problems. It turns out that a few years ago, the state actually sponsored a study that concluded vehicle inspections were not only highly effective but should likely be expanded. That study’s author recently joined Y’all-itics and told the Jasons he’s surprised lawmakers dumped the program. Dr. Michael Murphy says when inspections temporarily went away a few years ago, bad things happened. “I will just say this, during the pandemic, when vehicle safety inspection stations were closed for a period of time, the number of defect vehicle fatalities, type A and Type B injuries, increased,” Dr. Murphy said. Dr. Murphy says he hopes law enforcement will continue to document crashes that involved vehicles with defects to see if those numbers rise once again. And he stresses that just because the state won’t require an inspection, drivers can still get their vehicles checked out on their own. Dr. Murphy says when they were talking to people for the study, there was one group in particular that didn’t think inspections were necessary. “The people in our survey that said they didn't think the inspection program was needed were primarily males. And in the comment section, they said, I, blankety-blank, know how to take care of my car. I own eight vehicles, motorcycles, pickup trucks, cars, I know how to take care of them,” he said. “And I understand that. I'd like to be that mechanically sharp. But what they weren't considering is not everyone is like that. Not everyone has the physical ability to do a vehicle inspection.”

Defending national champion South Carolina is practicing without forward Ashlyn Watkins, who remains suspended following her Aug. 31 arrest. "The status is still the same," head coach Dawn Staley said Tuesday, the day after the Gamecocks' first official team practice. "Nothing has moved yet. We're not going to move until the situation changes." Watkins was charged with first-degree assault and kidnapping following an incident at a student housing and retail center. The arrest triggered an automatic team suspension under athletic department policy. Watkins, a 6-foot-3 junior, averaged 9.2 points and 7.4 rebounds in 38 games last season for the undefeated national champions. The Columbia, S.C., native is due to appear in Richland County court on Oct. 25, less than two weeks before South Carolina opens the season against Michigan on Nov. 4 in Las Vegas. Per her arrest warrant, she allegedly picked up the individual and carried her without her consent, then "grabbed the victim's head and forced her to walk down the hall, thus controlling her movement while preventing her from leaving." This came after Watkins allegedly assaulted the individual by "forcefully grabbing her face, pulling her by her arms, and pushing her." The individual was later treated for non-life-threatening injuries after allegedly escaping and pulling a fire alarm. Watkins was released on a $30,000 personal recognizance bond. "We believe once everybody has a full grasp of what happened, this will end up being a misunderstanding," Watkins' lawyer Todd Rutherford told WLTX earlier this month. "What we know for certain is that Ashlyn did not assault anyone and she did not kidnap anyone." --Field Level MediaRyan Day knew he had to beat Michigan this year to feel good about his future in Columbus, and yet, he turned in a "disasterclass" for Ohio State this Saturday afternoon. For starters, Ohio State's offense has been incredibly conservative all game long. That's the first major blunder Day made in this year's installment of "The Game." He learned heavily on a rushing attack that wasn't generating much production on the ground. The real mistake though came when it mattered most. With Michigan's offense facing an important third down with only two minutes left in the fourth quarter, it was evident that Ohio State's defense wasn't properly lined up. The Buckeyes were ultimately penalized for an illegal substitution, which gave the Wolverines a first down. What made this situation so brutal is that Ohio State just use a timeout the play before. Why wasn't the defense set after just going over its strategy? As you'd imagine, college football fans crushed Day on social media for this epic blunder. "Ryan Day was never it. But I mean, that penalty. You can’t not feel bad for him. That is the worst thing imaginable," one fan wrote on X. "Ryan Day is slow," another fan said. "Doesn’t use a timeout before the 2 minute warning, penalty for illegal substitution for a first down. Next year it is." Icon Sportswire/Getty Images Michigan ultimately ran more time off the clock while still putting points on the board thanks to Day's mistake. Day came into this Saturday with a 1-3 record against Michigan. He just doesn't bring his best effort when the games get tight. It'll be fascinating to see how Ohio State fans treat Day from this point forward. If we had to guess, he won't be welcomed with open arms. Related: Ryan Day Is Getting Ripped For Horrendous Playcalling vs. MichiganA view of the large rocket debris captured by the Astroscale ADRAS-J spacecraft A view of the large rocket debris captured by the Astroscale ADRAS-J spacecraft Credit: Astroscale A Japanese spacecraft has made a daring approach to a discarded rocket in Earth's orbit. The mission — undertaken by the satellite technology company Astroscale — intends to eventually remove the 36-foot-long spent rocket stage, but has first tested its ability to rendezvous with the problematic object (one of 27,000 space junk objects larger than 10 centimeters in orbit). The pioneering space endeavor is called Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan, or ADRAS-J. "Ending 2024 with a historic approach!" Astroscale posted online. "Our ADRAS-J mission has achieved the closest ever approach by a commercial company to space debris, reaching just 15 meters [almost 50 feet] from a rocket upper stage." This rocket stage, weighing three tons, is the upper part of the Japanese Space Exploration Agency's (JAXA) H2A rocket, which launched the Earth observation GOSAT satellite in 2009. The greater space debris removal mission is part of JAXA's "Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration" project, which seeks a proven way to remove problematic space junk from orbit. ADRAS-J previously flew around the hunk of discarded metal, capturing imagery and gathering data on the rocket's condition and motion. This latest and closest... Mark KaufmanSkier/snowboarder Ester Ledecka has 2 Olympic races on same day in 2026, hoping for schedule change

South Carolina F Ashlyn Watkins remains suspendedBAKU – In the wee hours Sunday at the United Nations climate talks, countries from around the world reached an agreement on how rich countries can cough up the funds to support poor countries in the face of climate change. It's a far-from-perfect arrangement, with many parties still deeply unsatisfied but some hopeful that the deal will be a step in the right direction. Recommended Videos World Resources Institute president and CEO Ani Dasgupta called it “an important down payment toward a safer, more equitable future,” but added that the poorest and most vulnerable nations are “rightfully disappointed that wealthier countries didn’t put more money on the table when billions of people’s lives are at stake.” The summit was supposed to end on Friday evening but negotiations spiraled on through early Sunday. With countries on opposite ends of a massive chasm, tensions ran high as delegations tried to close the gap in expectations. Here's how they got there: What was the finance deal agreed at climate talks? Rich countries have agreed to pool together at least $300 billion a year by 2035. It’s not near the full amount of $1.3 trillion that developing countries were asking for, and that experts said was needed. But delegations more optimistic about the agreement said this deal is headed in the right direction, with hopes that more money flows in the future. The text included a call for all parties to work together using “all public and private sources” to get closer to the $1.3 trillion per year goal by 2035. That means also pushing for international mega-banks, funded by taxpayer dollars, to help foot the bill. And it means, hopefully, that companies and private investors will follow suit on channeling cash toward climate action. The agreement is also a critical step toward helping countries on the receiving end create more ambitious targets to limit or cut emissions of heat-trapping gases that are due early next year. It’s part of the plan to keep cutting pollution with new targets every five years, which the world agreed to at the U.N. talks in Paris in 2015. The Paris agreement set the system of regular ratcheting up climate fighting ambition as away to keep warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The world is already at 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) and carbon emissions keep rising. What will the money be spent on? The deal decided in Baku replaces a previous agreement from 15 years ago that charged rich nations $100 billion a year to help the developing world with climate finance. The new number has similar aims: it will go toward the developing world's long laundry list of to-dos to prepare for a warming world and keep it from getting hotter. That includes paying for the transition to clean energy and away from fossil fuels. Countries need funds to build up the infrastructure needed to deploy technologies like wind and solar power on a large scale. Communities hard-hit by extreme weather also want money to adapt and prepare for events like floods, typhoons and fires. Funds could go toward improving farming practices to make them more resilient to weather extremes, to building houses differently with storms in mind, to helping people move from the hardest-hit areas and to help leaders improve emergency plans and aid in the wake of disasters. The Philippines, for example, has been hammered by six major storms in less than a month , bringing to millions of people howling wind, massive storm surges and catastrophic damage to residences, infrastructure and farmland. “Family farmers need to be financed," said Esther Penunia of the Asian Farmers Association. She described how many have already had to deal with millions of dollars of storm damage, some of which includes trees that won't again bear fruit for months or years, or animals that die, wiping out a main source of income. “If you think of a rice farmer who depends on his or her one hectare farm, rice land, ducks, chickens, vegetables, and it was inundated, there was nothing to harvest,” she said. Why was it so hard to get a deal? Election results around the world that herald a change in climate leadership, a few key players with motive to stall the talks and a disorganized host country all led to a final crunch that left few happy with a flawed compromise. The ending of COP29 is "reflective of the harder geopolitical terrain the world finds itself in,” said Li Shuo of the Asia Society. He cited Trump's recent victory in the US — with his promises to pull the country out of the Paris Agreement — as one reason why the relationship between China and the EU will be more consequential for global climate politics moving forward. Developing nations also faced some difficulties agreeing in the final hours, with one Latin American delegation member saying that their group didn't feel properly consulted when small island states had last-minute meetings to try to break through to a deal. Negotiators from across the developing world took different tacks on the deal until they finally agreed to compromise. Meanwhile, activists ramped up the pressure: many urged negotiators to stay strong and asserted that no deal would be better than a bad deal. But ultimately the desire for a deal won out. Some also pointed to the host country as a reason for the struggle. Mohamed Adow, director of climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa, said Friday that “this COP presidency is one of the worst in recent memory,” calling it “one of the most poorly led and chaotic COP meetings ever.” The presidency said in a statement, “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator. We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.” Shuo retains hope that the opportunities offered by a green economy “make inaction self-defeating” for countries around the world, regardless of their stance on the decision. But it remains to be seen whether the UN talks can deliver more ambition next year. In the meantime, “this COP process needs to recover from Baku,” Shuo said. ___ Associated Press reporters Seth Borenstein and Sibi Arasu contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org .Late Surge Lifts York Past Mount Marty Men

NEW YORK — The NHL is partnering with P-X-P to serve the Deaf community, creating an alternate telecast for the Winter Classic that features analysis in American Sign Language. The announcement was made Thursday by the league and a company that aims to improve access to ASL in sports. NHL in ASL made its debut when Florida outlasted Edmonton in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, showing two deaf commentators signing during a game for the first time during a major sports event. The groundbreaking concept will return — streaming on Max in the United States and Sportsnet+ in Canada — on Dec. 31 when the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues play at Wrigley Field. "We are proud to continue to demonstrate the league’s commitment to providing a fully immersive and accessible viewing experience that specifically meets the needs of the Deaf community,” said Steve Mayer , the NHL's chief content officer. “This is an NHL-led production for the Deaf by the Deaf, and we encourage all fans watching at home to tune-in to experience this special telecast.” Hearing commentators are not heard during the NHL ASL broadcasts, which does include natural sound that would be heard in the arena, such as the officials calling a penalty and skates cutting through ice. Graphics such as a crowd intensity meter that measures crowd noise are also shown. Closed captioning has been around for more than four decades, but the boxes of text in English do not provide true access to viewers in the Deaf community . P-X-P chief operating officer Jason Altmann and Noah Blankenship from Denver’s Office of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services will appear on the right side of a split screen during the Winter Classic, just as they did for seven games during the Cup Final. “The NHL continues to be a sports industry pioneer for Deaf inclusion and accessibility and I am honored to be part of this game-changing initiative," Altmann said.The judge said he’ll make his decision after Combs’ lawyers and federal prosecutors file letters, due Monday, addressing outstanding issues.While history has softened the harsh view of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, there is one part of his legacy that looks worse as the years pass. Carter, who died Sunday in Plains, Georgia at the age of 100 , called to boycott the 1980 Olympics because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, and the pressure he exerted on the U.S. Olympic Committee to comply, was wrong and naïve. It accomplished nothing other than to further entrench the antagonism between the United States and the Soviet Union, and inserted politics where it didn’t belong. Worse, it punished hundreds of athletes, robbing them of the moment and opportunity for which they had trained and sacrificed. Not just American athletes, either. Other countries joined the United States in boycotting the Summer Games in Moscow, including Canada and Japan, and the Soviet Union and much of the Eastern bloc retaliated four years later in Los Angeles. Carter, raised the possibility of a boycott in January 1980, a month after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, hoping the embarrassment of the world staying home from the Summer Games would convince the communist powerhouse to leave Afghanistan. After the Soviets ignored a February deadline, Carter officially announced the boycott March 21, 1980. But it is the USOC, not the White House, that sends teams to the Olympics. In an April speech to USOC leaders, Vice President Walter Mondale painted the boycott as a moral imperative, saying "no less than the future security of the civilized world" was at stake in Afghanistan. He likened the Soviet invasion to Hitler’s Nazi Germany, and said the United States could not make the same mistake it had in 1936, when Jesse Owens led an American team to the Berlin Games. "As Joseph Goebbels boasted on the eve of the Olympics, the Reich expected the Games 'to turn the trick and create a friendly world attitude toward Nazi political, economic, and racial aims.' It worked," Mondale told the USOC. "... Neither Jesse’s achievements in Berlin nor any words spoken at the Games prevented the Reich from exploiting the Olympics toward their own brutal ends." A few hours after Mondale’s speech, the USOC agreed to Carter’s demand and said it would not send a team to Moscow. While athletes were hailed as patriots and praised for their sacrifice, that was little consolation for the harsh reality of Olympic sports. With the Games held once every four years, most athletes get only one shot when they’re in their prime. Four years earlier and they’re probably too young. Four years later and they’re probably too old. The boycott meant hundreds of athletes missed out on the opportunity to be recognized by the entire world as the best in the sports to which they’d devoted their entire lives. Given this was still in the days before professionals could compete in the Olympics, those athletes who would have won medals lost out on post-Games economic opportunities, including lucrative speaking engagements for which they’d still be in demand long after their days as an athlete had ended. Take Bill Rodgers, arguably one of the greatest distance runners ever. Rodgers was 40th in the marathon at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. But beginning with the New York Marathon later that year, he won 15 of his next 19 races at the 26.2-mile distance, including Boston in 1978, 1979 and 1980. He set an American record at Boston in 1979, and Track & Field News ranked him No. 1 in the marathon for a third time that year. Had the United States gone to Moscow, he would have been a favorite to join Frank Shorter (1972), John Hayes (1908) and Thomas Hicks (1904) as the only U.S. men to win the Olympic marathon, a feat that would have made him a commercial superstar. But the United States didn’t go to Moscow. And by the time the Los Angeles Games arrived, Rodgers’ career was in decline. He finished eighth at the 1984 Olympic trials and didn’t even make the U.S. team for L.A. "We're simply a tool, an implement," Rodgers told the Washington Post at the time. "No one cares at all, until we can be used for their purposes. Then they can use it." At least Rodgers could still call himself an Olympian, having competed in Montreal. But there were other athletes for whom Moscow was their only chance. They remain in a weird sort of athletic purgatory, Olympians without an Olympics. "I feel like a doctor who knows the specialty, but I don't have that M.D.," wrestler Lee Kemp, who would have been the heavy favorite for gold at 74 kilograms in Moscow after winning the world title in 1978 and 1979, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 2010. Kemp retired after finishing second at the 1984 Olympic trials. Had the boycott accomplished what Carter hoped, maybe athletes could have taken some comfort in knowing their sacrifice had brought about change. But many of the United States’ closest allies – Britain and France among them – refused to join the boycott. The politics Carter hoped to keep out of the Olympics are now endemic to the Games. And not until February 1989, almost a decade later, would the Soviet Union leave Afghanistan. "There was not one positive," Kemp told the Times-Picayune. "Not one." Forty-four years later, it’s even more apparent Carter made the wrong decision. Follow Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour

HALIFAX - Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston named an expanded 21-member cabinet Thursday during a ceremony in downtown Halifax that excluded reporters in a departure from a long-standing tradition of open coverage. In an address that was livestreamed, Houston said his newly re-elected government would continue to deal with issues that matter to Nova Scotians, including health care, housing and affordability. “This term will also be very focused on growing our economy and continuing to lower taxes,” the premier said. “We have to grow our economy to be better able to support the services that Nova Scotians have a right to expect.” Before the election, in which the Tories won 43 of the legislature’s 55 seats, Houston led a 17-member cabinet. The government allowed only one television outlet to have a pool camera at the ceremony held at the Halifax Convention Centre, citing “limited capacity” inside the building that occupies a full city block. Journalists who tried to enter Thursday were turned away by building security. Houston was asked by reporters as he arrived why the media were not being given access to the new cabinet members. “It’s all live streamed ... It’s a really exciting day, you guys have lots of access, and you guys know that,” he said. Reporters were allowed to attend the swearing-in ceremony held at the same venue after the Tories were first elected in 2021, although it was during the COVID-19 pandemic and they were placed in a separate room to monitor the event before interviewing ministers. In the new cabinet, Houston will be joined by veterans John Lohr, who becomes finance minister, Becky Druhan, who moves from education to justice, and Michelle Thompson, who continues as minister of health. There are five new members, including political newcomer Leah Martin as minister of Communications Nova Scotia and L’ nu affairs and Fred Tilley, a former Liberal who crossed the floor just before the Nov. 26 election and becomes minister of public works. The other new ministers are Dave Ritcey in the tourism portfolio, Nolan Young, who is minister of labour, and Scott Armstrong as minister of opportunities and social development — formerly the Department of Community Services. In another departmental change, veteran minister Colton LeBlanc will head the new Department of Growth and Development, which was formerly known as economic development and will now also oversee housing. Composed of 14 men and seven women, the cabinet will see Barbara Adams return as minister of seniors and long-term care and serve as deputy premier. Tim Halman retains the environment portfolio and Tory Rushton stays on in natural resources, while Kim Masland moves from public works to the Department of Emergency Management. The former community services minister, Brendan Maguire, takes over education and also assumes the duties of advanced education from Brian Wong, who was dropped from cabinet along with Susan Corkum-Greek, the former minister of economic development. Alex Marland, a political scientist at Acadia University, said the government could have found room for reporters had it wanted to. “This isn’t a new government, so there are some experienced hands who at a minimum could have been made available,” Marland said. He added that in general, there are governments that feel the need to control their message, and that also tend to be cautious with newer ministers who lack media training. “If this is a pattern and it persists, that’s going to be a problem for the Houston government,” he said. “But if this is a one off and by January things are a little different because people have gone through media training, then a lot of it will be forgotten.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2024. — With files from Lyndsay ArmstrongHaiti gangs fire on journalists covering a planned hospital reopening, leaving casualties

Donald Trump invites President Xi to inauguration despite trade war

At the start of a tour of Columbia High School’s new education facility that included Columbia High School coaches, Columbia-Brazoria ISD administration and school board members, C-BISD Superintendent Steven Galloway introduced a couple of architects and construction firms working with the district on its new facility. One of the men he introduced was David Gaubatz. His father, Dennis, was a Roughneck football player in the 1950s who went on to play for the Baltimore Colts after being drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 1963 NFL Draft. “It’s just kind of funny that he (David) wound up being PBK Architects’ representative on the job who is related to somebody from Columbia High School, who played in the NFL, the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine, Life Magazine; it’s kind of cool,” Galloway said. The historical presence didn’t end at the door; it was the start of a theme for the new Columbia High School gymnasiums. Columbia High School will open its new gymnasiums Tuesday. The Roughnecks are hosting Van Vleck in boys basketball action. Tip-off of the freshman and junior varsity games are at 4:30 p.m. and varsity game is at 6 p.m. “This whole facility means so much to everybody,” Roughnecks coach Sean Cox said. “When I got here, it was the dome gym, and that’s all these kids have known their whole lives. To be able to call this home and something to be proud of is huge for the community and the kids. “The history is tied into all this, and it’s great for the kids to understand that, and they get to be a part of it from the start.” The two-story facility toward the back side of Columbia High School features a new career and technical education facility for agriculture and trade training, dual gyms, a weight room, locker rooms and a new facility for fine arts instruction. However, the two gymnasiums’ uniqueness is the historical ties they showcase to the school district and the city of West Columbia. “When we went into design, we talked about calling this court First Capital Court,” Galloway said. “In 1836, after the Battle of the Alamo, the Battle of San Jacinto, it (West Columbia) became the first capital, and they decided to meet here in October of 1836 and inaugurated Sam Houston as the first president of the Republic of Texas. “So when we went through the process of the facilities committee, they asked us to respect the history of the area.” First Capital Court is the main varsity high school gymnasium. To incorporate West Columbia’s history, oil derricks are etched on the court, highlighting the oilfield workers who came to West Columbia in 1919 and 1920 to find a better place for their children to go to school, Galloway said. “West Columbia ISD was created as a taxing entity back in 1920; that’s when the election went to the voters to do that, so that is represented here,” Galloway said. The court also encompasses modern-day Columbia High School and Columbia-Brazoria ISD, with a circular “C” logo at midcourt. The logo represents the district’s “Ride for the C” mantra, which athletics director Earnest Peña instilled when he took over the position in 2023. “If you look at the court and know the history, it is from the very beginning to the very current,” Galloway said. Next door to the varsity gym is the auxiliary gym, which will host subvarsity volleyball and basketball games. That gym is named Charlie Brown Court and has the year 1896 along the sideline. Brown was a freed slave who moved to Texas after Emancipation and became Texas’ first Black millionaire. He died in 1920. However, his wish for a school for Black children outlived him, and the district wanted to make sure it honored him with the new upgrades. “In 1896, a U.S. Supreme Court hearing called Plessy v. Ferguson, separate but equal. A few months after that, Charlie Brown donated land to this school district, which at the time was Common School District 16 in 1896,” Galloway said. “He donated land to the district to build a facility to educate the Black children of the school district at that time. “In that beginning, and to represent that history, we named that court Charlie Brown Court. The idea is to respect the history, and what we want is when people come to the gym and ask ‘What does 1896 mean?’ Our people can tell them the history. We are an education business and we want everything we do to teach a history lesson.” District voters approved the $79 million bond project, managed by PBK Architects, in November 2022 to replace buildings as old as 60 years, including the old dome-like gymnasium. “It looked like the construction was going to take us three years, 36 months. Once we got Drymalla (Construction Co.), the construction manager at risk, on board and sat down in planning, we found a way to cut the construction time from 36 months to 20 months,” Galloway said. “But the key was, get this (the high school gym) opened first.” Phase 1 of the project was to complete the gymnasiums. Phase 2, which started after Thanksgiving, included moving everything into the building. Phase 3 involves tearing down the current auxiliary gym, also known as the G building, and the girls’ locker room. The old domed building was demolished in August 2023. The volleyball and basketball teams have played their home games at West Brazos Junior High School in Brazoria during construction. “But part of the other process was while everything else is going on, we’re going to school around it,” Galloway said. “It’s been a masterpiece of planning and it’s turned out perfect. When we start school in August, we will be in everything.” Galloway praised the community for its support. “It’s fantastic,” he said. “Anytime you want somebody to pay a little money, that’s hard. But, when we were doing our tours and talking to groups, our promise was that we were going to do things right. I hope when we bring people into this facility, they agree.” Lady ’Necks coach Maurice Jones had never experienced another gym like this because the gymnasiums he visited before didn’t have the sense of character Columbia’s has, he said. “There is history tied behind this,” he said. “Here, First Capital Court; West Columbia being the first capital for the Republic of Texas is great, and we understand that the oil is what established West Columbia ISD, and now, we ‘Ride for the C.’ That is the culture that we want to establish here at Columbia. “It’s exciting for the kids to experience all of that. When you walk into this gym, there is history here, and you feel something different than the norm.” Both coaches showed their players the facility during the day Nov. 21. Jones’ team got to practice Nov. 25 and Cox’s on Nov. 26, but Cox’s team will get the chance to christen the gymnasium with Tuesday’s non-district game. “They are excited. They are chomping at the bit to get here,” Cox said. “Being able to practice here a couple of times before a game is huge. They can get comfortable going into a new locker room, knowing where you are going and getting acclimated to a new space.” The weight room is for girls’ sports and boys’ basketball, eliminating the need to walk to the field house. “We can have a group lift and a group practice without having to travel across campus. It makes it so much easier,” Cox said. Peña is one of more than a dozen coaches who are alumni of Columbia High School and played in the dome gym. In a way, the opening of the new gymnasiums is a journey come full circle for the 2003 Roughneck graduate, who will soon see his own children do the same at the new facility, including his daughter, Emsley, who will play in the new gym in a few years as a freshman. “It means a lot because where we played before, and now we are part of a new beginning. ... I think about the community and all the people I grew up with; they all have kids coming through here, and they played in the dome,” Peña said. “It’s a new beginning for us ... everybody on the coaching staff, the alumni and the community appreciates it. “How often do you get to open up a new gym ... and our kids get to play in this gym and experience it? We are proud and excited about it.”

Former Kentucky wide receiver Dane Key, one of the top offensive players in the transfer portal, announced on social media Tuesday that he will transfer to Nebraska. Key posted a photo of himself in a Nebraska uniform wearing the No. 6 he wore at Kentucky. The simple post contained the letters "GBR," short for "Go Big Red," with an emoji heart. Key led Kentucky this past season with 47 receptions for 715 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games as the Wildcats finished 4-8. In three seasons, the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder has 126 receptions for 1,870 yards and 14 TDs in 38 games (35 starts). Key has one season of eligibility remaining after he was a four-star recruit in the class of 2022. --Field Level MediaNo. 10 Maryland holds off George Mason late, 66-56 in a matchup of unbeatensFacebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save WASHINGTON — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a national ground stop for the airline. The order, which prevented planes from taking off, was issued at the airline's request after it experienced trouble with its flight operating system, or FOS. The airline blamed technology from one of its vendors. As a result, flights were delayed across American's major hubs, with only 36% of the airline's 3,901 domestic and international flights leaving on time, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company; 51 flights were canceled. People are also reading... York Fire Department responds to Thursday evening structure fire York Fire Department investigating cause of Thursday night blaze 2024 York News-Times All-Area Football Team 2024 York News-Times All-Area Volleyball Team York's housing gap to shrink with new Countryside Estates development Body found in rural Colfax County identified 'Way different numbers': Nebraska's Matt Rhule talks rising costs of players from a year ago 'I can't turn anyone away' — Utica native leads 52-member 4-H club in Columbus Amie Just: National player of the year or not, Lexi Rodriguez has revolutionized libero position Amie Just: Lexi Rodriguez deserved a national title. For her career to end like this? Gutting Gov. Jim Pillen has 7 broken ribs and other injuries after fall from horse Suzanna “Suzie” Jackson Most York restaurants closing early on Christmas Eve Rankings: Nebraska high school boys basketball, Dec. 23 York County deputies arrest Colorado man for possession of drugs, knife An American Airlines employee wearing looks toward quiet check-in counters Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union representing American Airlines pilots, said the airline told pilots at 7 a.m. Eastern that there was an outage affecting the FOS system. It handles different types of airline operations, including dispatch, flight planning, passenger boarding, as well as an airplane's weight and balance data, he said. Some components of FOS went down in the past, but a systemwide outage is rare, Tajer said. Hours after the ground stop was lifted, Tajer said the union had not heard about "chaos out there beyond just the normal heavy travel day." He said officials were watching for cascading effects, such as staffing problems. On social media, however, customers expressed frustration with delays that caused them or their family members to miss connecting flights. One person asked if American planned to hold flights for passengers to make connections, while others complained about the lack of assistance they said they received from the airline or gate agents. Travelers wait in line for security checks Tuesday at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. Bobby Tighe, a real estate agent from Florida, said he would miss a family Christmas Eve party in New York because his American flight was repeatedly delayed. The delays made him miss a connecting flight, leaving him the choice of going to his destination — Westchester, N.Y. — on Christmas Day or taking another flight to Newark, N.J., scheduled to land Tuesday evening. He chose the latter. "I'm just going to take an Uber or Lyft to the airport I was originally supposed to go to, pick up my rental car and kind of restart everything tomorrow," Tighe said. He said his girlfriend was "going through the same exact situation" on her way from Dallas to New York. Cirium noted the vast majority of flights departed within two hours of their scheduled departure time. A similar percentage — 39% — arrived at their destinations as scheduled. Dallas-Fort Worth, New York's Kennedy Airport and Charlotte, North Carolina, saw the greatest number of delays, Cirium said. Washington, Chicago and Miami experienced considerably fewer delays. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking site FlightAware reported that 4,058 flights entering or leaving the U.S., or serving domestic destinations, were delayed, with 76 flights canceled. The site did not post any American Airlines flights Tuesday morning, but it showed in the afternoon that 961 American flights were delayed. Amid the travel problems, significant rain and snow were expected in the Pacific Northwest at least into Christmas Day. Showers and thunderstorms were developing in the South. Freezing rain was reported in the Mid-Atlantic region near Baltimore and Washington, and snow fell in New York. An American Airlines employee wearing a Santa Claus hat walks through the American terminal Tuesday at Miami International Airport in Miami. Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. And any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have "interline agreements" that let them put stranded customers on another carrier's flights. This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers automatic cash refunds for canceled or significantly delayed flights. Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. That's because finding a last-minute flight on another airline tends to be expensive. American Airlines employees check in travelers Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. An American spokesperson said Tuesday was not a peak travel day for the airline — with about 2,000 fewer flights than the busiest days — so it had somewhat of a buffer to manage the delays. The Transportation Security Administration said it expected to screen 40 million passengers through Jan. 2. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was $3.04 a gallon, down from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA. Flight nightmare? Here's how to get compensated Flight nightmare? Here's how to get compensated "It's not the destination, it's the journey," said American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ralph clearly was not among the travellers on one of more than 350 cancelled or 1,400 delayed flights after a worldwide tech outage caused by an update to Crowdstrike's "Falcon Sensor" software in July of 2023. U.S. airlines carried nearly 863 million travellers in 2023, with Canadian carriers accounting for another 150 million, many of whom experienced lost luggage, flight delays, cancellations, or were bumped off their flights. It's unclear how many of them were compensated for these inconveniences. Suffice it to say, posting a crabby rant on social media might temporarily soothe anger, but it won't put wasted money back in pockets. Money.ca shares what to know in order to be compensated for the three most common air travel headaches. Lost Luggage Bags elected to go on a vacay without you? Check off the following: Alert the airline, both in person and in writing, of any missing bags. Remember, the clock starts ticking immediately. After 21 days, the baggage is considered lost and the airline is liable for it and its contents. Contact the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) or Canadian Transportation Agency , who will query the airline on your behalf and give them a 30-day deadline to respond. Usually, the airline will resolve the issue, but if it doesn't, or if you're unsatisfied with the offer, the next level is mediation. Beyond that, the case could move to adjudication, a court-like process with a panel deciding on the outcome. On international flights, you have up to two years to file litigation. If you expect a large payout, think again. Tariffs (air carrier contracts) limit the compensation amounts for "loss of, damage to, or the delay in delivery of baggage or other personal property." In the case of Air Canada, the maximum payout is $1,500 per passenger in the currency of the country where the baggage was processed. To raise that limit, purchase a Declaration of Higher Value for each leg of the trip. The charge is $0.50 for each $100, in which case the payout limit is $2,500. For Delta Air Lines, passengers are entitled to up to $3,800 in baggage compensation, though how much you'll receive depends on your flight. Delta will pay up to $2,080 for delayed, lost, and damaged baggage for international travellers, almost half of what U.S. domestic passengers can claim. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. Delayed/Cancelled Flights Different air carriers and jurisdictions have their own compensation policies when flights are delayed or cancelled. For example, under European Union rules, passengers may receive up to 600 Euros, even when travelling on a non-EU carrier. Similarly, the DOT states that travellers are entitled to a refund "if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel." However, US rules regarding delays are complicated. Some air carriers, such as Air Canada, do not guarantee their flight schedules. They're also not liable for cancellations or changes due to "force majeure" such as weather conditions or labour disruptions. If the delay is overnight, only out-of-town passengers will be offered hotel accommodation. Nevertheless, many airlines do offer some compensation for the inconvenience. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. Flight Compensation in the U.S. In terms of cash compensation, what you'll get can differ significantly based on things like departure location, time, carrier, and ticket class. The DOT offers a helpful delay and cancellations dashboard designed to keep travellers informed about their compensation rights. The dashboard is particularly helpful because, as the DOT states on its website, "whether you are entitled to a refund depends on a lot of factors—such as the length of the delay, the length of the flight, and your particular circumstances." Flight Compensation in Canada The Canadian Transportation Agency is proposing air passenger protection regulations that guarantee financial compensation to travellers experiencing flight delays and cancellations, with the level of compensation varying depending on the situation and how much control the air carrier had. The proposed regulations include the following: A plane must return to its gate after three hours on the tarmac. Minimum requirements will be set for procuring food, drink, lavatories, ventilation, and access to electronic communications during the delay. For larger airlines, payouts will range from $400 for a 3-6 hour delay, to $700 for 6-9 hours, and $1,000 for more than nine hours. For smaller carriers, the compensation would be $125, $250, and $500, respectively. Here's the loophole: If the delay is related to the air carrier's maintenance problems, no compensation is required. The airline is obligated to complete the passenger's itinerary. If the new ticket is for a lower class of service, the air carrier would have to refund the cost difference; if the booking is in a higher class of service, passengers cannot be charged extra. If the passenger declines the ticket, the airline must give a full refund, in addition to the prescribed compensation. For overnight delays, the air carrier needs to provide hotel accommodation and transportation free-of-charge. Again, if you are unsatisfied, the Canadian Transportation Agency or Department of Transportation may advocate on your behalf. Bumped Off the Flight Passengers get bumped because airlines overbook. When this happens, the air carrier must compensate you. For international flights in the US, the rate is 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination, with a $675 maximum. If the airline does not make travel arrangements for you, the payout is 400% of your one-way fare to a maximum of $1,350. To qualify, you must check-in by the stated deadline, which on international flights can be up to 3 hours ahead. Keep in mind that if you accept the cash, you are no longer entitled to any further compensation, nor are you guaranteed to be rebooked on a direct flight or similar type of seat. Don't be too quick to give up your boarding pass. Negotiate for the best compensation deal that would include cash, food and hotel vouchers, flight upgrade, lounge passes, as well as mileage points. But avoid being too greedy—if the gate attendant is requesting volunteers and you wait too long, you'll miss the offer. According to Air Canada's tariff, if a passenger is involuntarily bumped, they'll receive $200, in cash or bank draft, for up to a two-hour delay; $400 for a 2-6 hours delay; and $800 if the delay is over six hours. (Air Canada was forced to raise its payouts in 2013 due to passenger complaints.) The new rules would raise the payout significantly: $900 for up to six hours; $1,800 for 6-9; and $2,400 for more than nine hours, all to be paid within 48 hours. Statistically speaking, Delta Airlines is the carrier most likely to bump. A few years ago, Delta raised its payout maximum to $9,950, while United Airlines tops out at $10,000. This story was produced by Money.ca and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ third bid to be released on bail won’t be decided until next weekWASHINGTON — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a national ground stop for the airline. The order, which prevented planes from taking off, was issued at the airline's request. The airline said in an email that the problem was caused by trouble with vendor technology that maintains its flight operating system. An American Airlines employee wearing looks toward quiet check-in counters Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union representing American Airlines pilots, said the airline told pilots at 7 a.m. Eastern that there was an outage affecting the system known as FOS. It handles different types of airline operations, including dispatch, flight planning, passenger boarding, as well as an airplane's weight and balance data, he said. Some components of FOS have gone down in the past, but a systemwide outage is rare, Tajer said. Flights were delayed across American's major hubs, with only 37% leaving on time, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Out of the 3,901 domestic and international American Airlines flights scheduled for Tuesday, 19 were canceled. Cirium noted that the vast majority of flights departed within two hours of their scheduled departure time. A similar percentage — 36% — arrived at their destinations as scheduled. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking site FlightAware reported that 3,712 flights entering or leaving the U.S., or serving domestic destinations, were delayed Tuesday, with 55 flights canceled. It did not show any flights from American Airlines. Cirium said Dallas-Fort Worth, New York's Kennedy Airport and Charlotte, North Carolina, saw the greatest number of delays. Washington, Chicago and Miami experienced considerably fewer delays. Travelers wait in line for security checks Tuesday at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. Amid the travel problems, significant rain and snow were expected in the Pacific Northwest at least into Christmas Day. Showers and thunderstorms developed in the South. Freezing rain was reported in the Mid-Atlantic region near Baltimore and Washington, and snow fell in New York. Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. Any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have "interline agreements" that let them put stranded customers on another carrier's flights. An American Airlines employee wearing a Santa Claus hat walks through the American terminal Tuesday at Miami International Airport in Miami. This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers an automatic cash refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight. Most air travelers were already eligible for refunds, but they often had to request them. Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. Finding a last-minute flight on another airline tends to be expensive. An American spokesperson said Tuesday was not a peak travel day for the airline — with about 2,000 fewer flights than the busiest days — so the airline had somewhat of a buffer to manage the delays. The groundings happened as millions of travelers were expected to fly over the next 10 days. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers through Jan. 2. Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. American Airlines employees check in travelers Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations more disruptive than during slower periods. Even with just a brief outage, the cancellations have a cascading effect that can take days to clear up. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. "Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday," AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was $3.04 a gallon, down from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state. Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation's highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic. "It's not the destination, it's the journey," said American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ralph clearly was not among the travellers on one of more than 350 cancelled or 1,400 delayed flights after a worldwide tech outage caused by an update to Crowdstrike's "Falcon Sensor" software in July of 2023. U.S. airlines carried nearly 863 million travellers in 2023, with Canadian carriers accounting for another 150 million, many of whom experienced lost luggage, flight delays, cancellations, or were bumped off their flights. It's unclear how many of them were compensated for these inconveniences. Suffice it to say, posting a crabby rant on social media might temporarily soothe anger, but it won't put wasted money back in pockets. Money.ca shares what to know in order to be compensated for the three most common air travel headaches. Bags elected to go on a vacay without you? Check off the following: If you expect a large payout, think again. Tariffs (air carrier contracts) limit the compensation amounts for "loss of, damage to, or the delay in delivery of baggage or other personal property." In the case of Air Canada, the maximum payout is $1,500 per passenger in the currency of the country where the baggage was processed. To raise that limit, purchase a Declaration of Higher Value for each leg of the trip. The charge is $0.50 for each $100, in which case the payout limit is $2,500. For Delta Air Lines, passengers are entitled to up to $3,800 in baggage compensation, though how much you'll receive depends on your flight. Delta will pay up to $2,080 for delayed, lost, and damaged baggage for international travellers, almost half of what U.S. domestic passengers can claim. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. Different air carriers and jurisdictions have their own compensation policies when flights are delayed or cancelled. For example, under European Union rules, passengers may receive up to 600 Euros, even when travelling on a non-EU carrier. Similarly, the DOT states that travellers are entitled to a refund "if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel." However, US rules regarding delays are complicated. Some air carriers, such as Air Canada, do not guarantee their flight schedules. They're also not liable for cancellations or changes due to "force majeure" such as weather conditions or labour disruptions. If the delay is overnight, only out-of-town passengers will be offered hotel accommodation. Nevertheless, many airlines do offer some compensation for the inconvenience. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. In terms of cash compensation, what you'll get can differ significantly based on things like departure location, time, carrier, and ticket class. The DOT offers a helpful delay and cancellations dashboard designed to keep travellers informed about their compensation rights. The dashboard is particularly helpful because, as the DOT states on its website, "whether you are entitled to a refund depends on a lot of factors—such as the length of the delay, the length of the flight, and your particular circumstances." The Canadian Transportation Agency is proposing air passenger protection regulations that guarantee financial compensation to travellers experiencing flight delays and cancellations, with the level of compensation varying depending on the situation and how much control the air carrier had. The proposed regulations include the following: The airline is obligated to complete the passenger's itinerary. If the new ticket is for a lower class of service, the air carrier would have to refund the cost difference; if the booking is in a higher class of service, passengers cannot be charged extra. If the passenger declines the ticket, the airline must give a full refund, in addition to the prescribed compensation. For overnight delays, the air carrier needs to provide hotel accommodation and transportation free-of-charge. Again, if you are unsatisfied, the Canadian Transportation Agency or Department of Transportation may advocate on your behalf. Passengers get bumped because airlines overbook. When this happens, the air carrier must compensate you. For international flights in the US, the rate is 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination, with a $675 maximum. If the airline does not make travel arrangements for you, the payout is 400% of your one-way fare to a maximum of $1,350. To qualify, you must check-in by the stated deadline, which on international flights can be up to 3 hours ahead. Keep in mind that if you accept the cash, you are no longer entitled to any further compensation, nor are you guaranteed to be rebooked on a direct flight or similar type of seat. Don't be too quick to give up your boarding pass. Negotiate for the best compensation deal that would include cash, food and hotel vouchers, flight upgrade, lounge passes, as well as mileage points. But avoid being too greedy—if the gate attendant is requesting volunteers and you wait too long, you'll miss the offer. According to Air Canada's tariff, if a passenger is involuntarily bumped, they'll receive $200, in cash or bank draft, for up to a two-hour delay; $400 for a 2-6 hours delay; and $800 if the delay is over six hours. (Air Canada was forced to raise its payouts in 2013 due to passenger complaints.) The new rules would raise the payout significantly: $900 for up to six hours; $1,800 for 6-9; and $2,400 for more than nine hours, all to be paid within 48 hours. Statistically speaking, Delta Airlines is the carrier most likely to bump. A few years ago, Delta raised its payout maximum to $9,950, while United Airlines tops out at $10,000. This story was produced by Money.ca and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

XRP's market cap hits $108 billion – Is $2.1 next for the altcoin?

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Jaylen Reed’s hands were still dirty and his face smeared with eye black as he took a seat in the Beaver Stadium media room. The hard-nosed veteran of nearly 50 college football games looked weary after Penn State pounded Maryland on Saturday, but lit up as he watched media members gather around teammate Audavion Collins next to him. The sophomore was excitedly describing his first career interception. Reed grinned, his pride was evident. One of Penn State’s captains, Reed loves when underclassmen earn playing time. He knows, especially on defense, the No. 3 Nittany Lions (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten, No. 4 CFP) will likely rely on them to make a run at their first national championship since 1986. “Having that type of depth, having that type of guy that can step up and play the game every week, that’s something that’s going to help us down the stretch,” Reed said. “Having depth at all positions, I feel like that’s the main thing and I feel like we have huge depth.” Reed knows Collins is far from the only reserve player who has been effective for Tom Allen’s defense this season. Heading into Saturday’s Big Ten championship game against No. 1 Oregon in Indianapolis, Penn State has used 39 players on a defense that ranks seventh nationally against the run and pass. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions are fourth overall in total defense (266.8 yards) and sixth in scoring defense (14 points) entering the showdown with the Ducks' 15th-ranked offense with a College Football Playoff first-round bye at stake. It’s not just the starting 11 getting it done. Since mid-October, Penn State has regularly rotated at least nine defensive linemen, six linebackers and nine defensive backs early and midway through games. As a result, seven players have snagged their first interceptions this season, while five others have recorded their first sacks. “We believe in everybody coming in behind us,” linebacker Tony Rojas said. “Our defense, we know what we’re capable of and I feel like our defense is top tier, if not the best.” It technically hasn’t been at full strength since Week 2 of the season. Then, star safety KJ Winston was lost to an unspecified long-term injury. He tried to play at Wisconsin on Oct. 26, but hasn’t seen action since. In the meantime, Winston’s absence has allowed Allen and head coach James Franklin to get a good look at Collins and other young backend players like Eliot Washington, Zion Tracy and Dejuan Lane. Tracy and Lane have seen their snap counts go up since November, and both have interceptions since. The Nittany Lions haven’t been immune to injuries up front, either. Star end Dani Dennis-Sutton was limited midway through the season by an unspecified ailment. Before last weekend’s game against Maryland, Penn State listed defensive tackles Alonzo Ford and Kaleb Artis and defensive end Zuriah Fisher out with injuries. While not near 100% healthy, Dennis-Sutton continued to suit up, but yielded reps to Amin Vanover and Smith Vilbert. Vanover and Vilbert are seniors who were slowed over the years by injuries but have stuck around, and are now shoring up the team’s depth. “I think getting Dani back healthy, that’s been important,” Franklin said. “I think this was his first game back where he was really healthy, Abdul (Carter) the second half of the season, has gotten very comfortable playing defensive end. We’ve been able to rotate and get production out of guys like Amin as well, so I think all those things have been really important.” So is the fact that Penn State’s defense has continued to close out games. The Nittany Lions have allowed just 445 yards on 125 third-quarter plays this season. Meanwhile, they’ve outscored opponents 192-55 in the second half and overtime and held 19 of their last 22 Big Ten opponents to fewer that 100 rushing yards. Like Reed, senior Dvon J-Thomas spent much of the second half against Maryland cheering on his freshman teammates. Notably, tackle Ty Blanding who had his first career tackle for loss in his first defensive series. “I’ve seen a tremendous leap in their attention to detail,” J-Thomas said. “There’s not a lot of moments or times in your career where you’ll have an opportunity like this and I think they realize that." Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Law Practice AI is at the forefront of a groundbreaking revolution in legal case management, reshaping how law firms handle complex tasks by leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI). With its innovative platform, Law Practice AI automates labor-intensive processes, empowering legal professionals to focus on strategy, analysis, and delivering superior client service. AI-Powered Efficiency: Transforming Legal Case Management Law Practice AI's platform simplifies and accelerates case management by automating document review, case tracking, and research. By streamlining these traditionally time-consuming tasks, law firms can reduce operational costs and eliminate errors that arise from manual data handling. The result is a faster, more efficient legal workflow that enhances productivity and increases client satisfaction. "Law Practice AI has transformed legal case management by automating repetitive tasks, allowing attorneys to focus on high-value work. This boosts efficiency and ensures clients receive top-tier service. We also recognize the importance of ethical concerns around AI, which is why our platform prioritizes privacy, security, and compliance, with encryption and stringent access controls built into every layer," says Hamid Kohan , Founder and CEO of Law Practice AI. AI and Ethics in Law: Prioritizing Privacy and Regulatory Compliance In an industry where privacy and ethics are paramount, Law Practice AI remains dedicated to responsible AI innovation. The platform adheres to strict privacy and regulatory compliance standards, safeguarding sensitive client information and maintaining ethical practices in every aspect of its service. Expanding Horizons: Law Practice AI Leads the Way in AI-Driven Legal Tech Looking ahead, Law Practice AI continues to expand its platform to meet the evolving needs of the legal sector. By integrating cutting-edge AI technologies such as predictive analytics and natural language processing (NLP), the platform is poised to offer broader solutions, including AI-assisted legal research, automated contract generation, and enhanced client communication tools. About Law Practice AI Law Practice AI is on a mission to reshape the legal landscape by harnessing the full power of Artificial Intelligence. Our team of legal and technology experts dive deep into the intricacies of the law, leveraging advanced AI technologies to deliver solutions that improve efficiency, accuracy, and client satisfaction. We are introducing law firms to a new era of smart, precise, and efficient legal services. For media inquiries, please contact: Law Practice AI , powered by Legal Soft Address: 21731 Ventura Blvd. #100 Woodland Hills CA 91364 Phone: 209-500-3033 Email: Sales@mylawfirm.ai Visit us on social media: Facebook Instagram Linkedin X.comNoneStrictly Come Dancing fans fume over 'unfair' marking as exit 'sealed'

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